


A Spirited Investigation

by leporidae



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Blue Lions Students (Fire Emblem)-centric, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Ghosts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:20:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26522059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leporidae/pseuds/leporidae
Summary: Determined to do damage control for her pride, Annette puffs out her chest with gusto. “I’mfine,”she says a bit too loudly, ignoring the soft snort of laughter from Mercedes. “Nothing to see here. Goodnight —”“Annette thinks she heard a ghost,” Mercedes interjects sweetly.
Relationships: Blue Lions Students & Annette Fantine Dominic
Comments: 1
Kudos: 28





	A Spirited Investigation

**Author's Note:**

> Finally getting around to posting my Blue Lions ensemble fic I wrote for [Edge of Dawn: A FE3H Zine](https://twitter.com/fe3houseszine) almost a year ago. Thank you again for having me ✨
> 
> ~~When will I learn to stop juggling like eight characters in a fic at once... never. I will never learn.~~

That night, Annette finishes studying early.

She removes her hair from its ties, first one side and then the other, a methodical routine; then slips into her bedclothes, folding her uniform carefully and setting it on the seat of her chair. Her warm bedsheets beckon her with the promise of dreamland as she reaches to extinguish the lamp on her desk.

And then, from outside — soft enough that Annette wonders if the sound is a figment of her restless imagination, and loud enough that she knows it is not — she hears the echo of eerie laughter.

Not a minute later she stands outside shivering in the chill of night, knocking furiously on her best friend’s door. Mercedes answers her call with bleary eyes and a sweet smile. “Annie?” she says with a yawn, curling one finger through a lock of her hair hanging loose from its usual ribbon. “What’s the matter?”

Annette slaps her own cheeks gently once, twice, _three_ times before calming her shaking breaths enough to manage speech. “Mercie,” she says, grabbing her friend’s hand between her own in a desperate plea. “I think — I think I just heard a ghost outside!”

“A ghost?” Mercedes echoes, shutting the door behind her. “Oh my, that sounds exciting. I wonder what sort of unfinished business they left behind at the monastery when they died.”

“U-unfinished business?” Annette gulps. “You mean like… revenge? Oh no — what if they were murdered? What if the person who used to live in my room killed them, and now they’re coming for me to finish the job?!”

“Nonsense, Annie,” Mercedes chides. “You’re far too kind to be mistaken for a murderer. Any ghost would be able to sense that.”

Annette sniffles. “Thanks, Mercie.”

Mercedes taps one finger to her chin, contemplating. “Perhaps we should bring them some kind of offering, like a bushel of flowers or incense, or —”

“Um, is everything okay?”

Annette screams.

“Hello, Ashe,” Mercedes says with a smile.

Annette’s face flushes to the tips of her ears when she turns to face the boy who had appeared behind her. “Ah, I heard you talking, and I was just hoping everything was okay,” Ashe says apologetically. “I didn’t mean to startle you...”

Determined to do damage control for her pride, Annette puffs out her chest with gusto. “I’m _fine,”_ she says a bit too loudly, ignoring the soft snort of laughter from Mercedes. “Nothing to see here. Goodnight —”

“Annette thinks she heard a ghost,” Mercedes interjects sweetly.

Ashe’s entire body tenses, strung tight as a loaded bowstring. “Gh-ghost?” The sudden palpable fear in Ashe’s voice causes Annette’s palms to sweat. “No, that’s — that’s ridiculous. There’s no need to worry, Annette. It was probably just the wind. Or — a dog barking.”

“It wasn’t the wind,” Annette says, pitch rising as she grows more and more hysterical. “It was _definitely_ human laughter, there was no mistaking it! _Dead_ human laughter!”

“That’s silly,” Ashe squeaks, another octave higher. “You probably just heard — a tree creaking. Or an animal.”

Annette sighs. Ashe is probably right. _You’re silly, Annette,_ she chides herself. _Always panicking at the smallest things. This is why you’re always messing up —_

This time, when the laughter comes, Annette and Ashe both scream at once.

“Oh dear,” Mercedes says, completely nonplussed. “Perhaps we should keep our voices down in case the others are sleeping?”

“How can you be so calm?!” Annette hisses. “That’s it, you’re coming with us to investigate. I have to know for certain there’s not a ghost out there!”

“Us?” Ashe echoes. “Um. Do I have to be a part of this?”

Annette nods vigorously. “We’ll be safer in a group,” she reassures him. The weather is unusually foggy tonight, any distinct features of the landscape melting into the mist. If Annette were alone, she would wholeheartedly expect a shadowy hand to reach from the murky abyss and drag her to the next life by the throat. Having Mercedes and Ashe by her side right now sets her mind somewhat at ease — not that anyone would know from her chattering teeth and shaking knees.

“And I believe our _group_ has just gained several members,” Mercedes exclaims, gesturing into the night.

Annette’s heartbeat stutters as three silhouetted figures slowly take shape before them. A strained sigh of relief is pushed through her lips when the phantoms reveal themselves to be her classmates; Ingrid, glaring very pointedly at a nonchalant Sylvain while Felix stands off to the side, one hand on the sword at his hip even at this hour.

“What are you all doing up so late?” Mercedes asks. With her pale hair draping ethereally around her shoulders in the soft light of the fog and that characteristic knowing smile dancing upon her lips, she looks a bit like a spirit herself, Annette thinks with a shiver. She loves Mercie, she truly does! But — sometimes her best friend can be a little scary, too.

“Training,” Felix says curtly, looking at his hands. Annette expects some kind of follow up, but he offers nothing else.

“Felix and I were just returning from the training grounds to practice the stances we drilled earlier,” Ingrid elaborates, rolling her eyes in Felix’s stubbornly reticent direction. “And we happened to catch a certain _someone_ sneaking out of his room.”

Sylvain gasps. “Someone was sneaking out of his room?” he echoes. “That’s terrible! Sounds like a real unscrupulous character.”

 _“Sylvain,”_ Ingrid snaps. “I’m talking about you! Seriously, you’re impossible. What could you _possibly_ have to do at this hour other than seducing some poor, unknowing girl to return to your quarters?”

He brings a palm to his lips in mock surprise. “Oh, Ingrid. I am a man of many talents who could be doing any number of things. Really, I’m hurt by these assumptions.”

Ingrid flushes angrily, like a pot of soup about to boil over, and Annette can only pray Ingrid doesn’t also explode like her past cooking endeavors. Desperately Annette looks to Mercedes for help — she’s the best mediator of them, after all — but finds her smiling blithely, staring off into the night. It’s unclear whether or not she’s still even paying attention to, well, _anything._

_Haha — hahaha!_

Everyone grows still as another eerie chuckle echoes across the courtyard, louder than before. Annette gulps audibly.

“What was that?” Felix growls after a beat, voicing the question no one else dares ask. 

“Annette seems to think it’s a ghost,” Mercedes says, that wispy voice of hers pleasant as ever even as Annette puffs out her cheeks in protest. “Wouldn’t that be thrilling? Think of all the stories we could hear from someone who has already died! Perhaps they might even know ancient fighting techniques,” she adds as Felix begins to turn away, and he stops in his tracks, suddenly interested anew. Annette snorts.

“Is something the matter? I was not aware we had called a meeting.”

A dark shadow emerges from the greenhouse — and Annette shrieks again, reflexively. _I’m going to be smitten by the Goddess without ever taking tomorrow’s test,_ she thinks hysterically. _And I studied so hard, too._

Dedue steps out of the fog, a perplexed and pained frown upon his lips.

Ashe is the first to speak to him, and Annette has to give him credit for mustering words when her own heart is pounding too fast for her to even breathe. “Ah, Dedue. Were you, um, checking in on the plants?”

“I was,” Dedue says with a nod, raising an eyebrow at the petrified expressions of the present company. “Has something happ—”

“I think there’s a ghost out there,” Annette blurts, and Sylvain — _Sylvain of all people, how dare he!_ — snickers. “Did you hear the laughter too, Dedue? D-do you think we’re in danger?”

Dedue frowns sternly at Sylvain before addressing Annette. “I believe did hear some laughter,” he admits cautiously. “It came from the direction of the dock. Perhaps someone is fishing at this hour? I didn’t think much of it.” Mercifully he notices Annette’s eyes gradually widening and moves to place a comforting (and slightly awkward) hand upon her shoulder. “Shall we investigate together?”

Annette nearly cries from sheer relief. With Dedue there she feels infinitely safer. “Thank you, Dedue,” she sniffles, voice small. “Sorry to bother you while you were working…”

Dedue shakes his head. “Nonsense. It is my duty to protect my classmates. Besides —” An almost imperceptible smile curls his lips for a moment, then vanishes again, lost to his practiced stoicism. “The plants are asleep for the night.”

“I feel better with you here too, Dedue,” Ashe agrees.

Ingrid huffs. “By the Goddess, Ashe — there’s nothing to worry about. There’s no such thing as ghosts!”

“We may as well put our minds to rest once and for all, then,” Dedue says gently, and Ingrid falls silent in begrudging agreement even as her skepticism remains. Annette feels bad putting everyone through this nonsense, but she _has_ to know what she’s been hearing, for — for _scientific purposes,_ and definitely _not_ because of her childish paranoia!

Upon hearing Dedue’s words, the Blue Lions all nod in almost comical unison — even Felix, who grimaces at their synchronicity — and begin edging towards the dock, soft footsteps crunching forebodingly in the silent night. In the midst of creeping forward Ashe freezes, turning to face the rest of them with wide eyes. “Hey, um — I definitely saw two figures on the dock just now,” he whispers. “Maybe we should go back?”

“No, we’ve already come this far,” Annette hisses. “If it’s someone dangerous, I’ll just — blow them into the water with my wind magic!”

Sylvain tilts his head to one side. “Hey, are you guys hearing people talking, or is it just me?”

The Blue Lions hold their breaths.

“All right, Alois, I think I have a good one this time,” a familiar voice says.

“Is that... His Highness?” Ingrid whispers. Beside her, Felix’s scowl deepens.

“Okay, here we go. You would do well not to scorn the affection of a noble in Faerghus,” Dimitri’s voice continues, “lest they give you the… _cold_ shoulder.”

Silence.

  
Then —

Alois’s raucous laughter bursts through the night with the discord of someone banging pots and pans together. From a distance, that distinctive laugh had possessed a strange, almost ethereal quality. But up close...

...Well, it’s simply Alois, laughing at a bad joke as he always does.

Everyone’s gaze has fallen on Annette in disbelief. 

She continues smiling. They continue staring.

“O-oh, um —” Annette forces a cheerful grin even as the flames of embarrassment burn her cheeks. “Alois sure does have an unusual laugh!”

_Goddess, smite me here and now._

“I can’t believe our future King of Faerghus is sneaking out at night to practice making bad jokes,” Sylvain says with a snort. “Hey, Dedue, are you sure the Kingdom is really in good hands with him?”

“Do not speak of His Highness in that manner,” Dedue says tersely. 

There’s pure, unadulterated _disgust_ on Felix’s face. “I wasted my time for _this?”_ He spits the last word like venom, exasperation so exaggerated Annette almost smiles. “This nonsense is absurd beyond belief. I’m returning to my quarters at once.”

“Oh, don’t be like that, Felix,” Mercedes chirps. “This was a fun adventure, don’t you think? A real Blue Lions bonding experience.” But halfway through her statement, Felix has already stormed off. An apologetic Ingrid shrugs and takes off after him.

“Well, I think he had fun.” Sylvain chuckles. “Thanks for the great ghost story, Annette. Now get some rest — and try not to have _too_ many nightmares about a middle-aged knight telling bad jokes, okay?”

Since coming to the Officers Academy, Annette had endured grueling training and faced vicious bandits and wild beasts, dangerous situations through which she had survived unscathed, and yet —

Of all the trials she had faced, the embarrassment she feels tonight may be what finally kills her.


End file.
